‘Victory for common sense’: Feds back four lanes for Tiaro bypass
After relentless campaigning for four lanes along the deadly Bruce Highway stretch, there’s been a change of heart in Canberra.
Fraser Coast
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The Australian Government will commit up to $183m in new money to fund a four-lane Tiaro bypass instead of two.
It follows relentless campaigning led by Wide Bay MP Llew O’Brien.
His party leader, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, had previously supported an agreement with the State Government for two lanes with a centre barrier.
But on Wednesday morning, he will make the official four-lane pledge alongside Mr O’Brien in Tiaro.
Ahead of the official announcement, Mr O’Brien, a former police officer, said funding commitment for a four-lane bypass was a major win for road safety, a significant economic boost for the Fraser Coast, and a victory “for common sense”.
“The bypass will dramatically improve road safety with a four-lane divided road that will prevent head on collisions. It will give traffic space to move around in the event of a breakdown, and improve flood immunity to keep traffic moving when the Mary River floods,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Industry and manufacturing rely on a safe and efficient transport network and a four-lane Tiaro bypass will increase the carrying capacity of this section that will create new jobs and opportunities in Tiaro and Maryborough to grow the Fraser Coast economy.
“The bypass will also improve Tiaro’s amenity by removing trucks from the town that just pass through, increasing safety and liveability in the community.
“With construction of the Gympie bypass well underway the next logical step is to extend the four lanes from Curra to Maryborough and it makes sense that starts with the Tiaro bypass which runs through a greenfield corridor.
“Thousands of people have shown their support calling for a safer four-lane bypass and I am pleased the Federal Government has listened to them and committed our share of the funding for this vital project.”
Maryborough MP Bruce Saunders, who’s campaign slogan has long been “Putting the Maryborough electorate first”, had previously said he would back four lanes if Mr O’Brien could get his federal colleagues to fork out the funds.
Wednesday’s announcement appeared to bait the state MP into ensuring the Queensland Government holds up its side of the bargain.
Despite the friction between the federal and state politicians, Mr Saunders said the funding was good news.
“It’s good news because the extra funding means more lanes to cater for our region’s growing population over the next decade and extra jobs too,” he said.
“The planning that’s been done for the Tiaro bypass was for a two lanes separated by a concrete barrier to physically separate north and south-bound traffic.
“The Department of Transport and Main Roads planners will have to revisit their plans now, because they’ll need to look at property impacts with the bigger project footprint and that kind of thing, so that will push back the start of construction, but the wait will be worth it.
“I’ll keep the community up to date on the revised planning schedule and new developments for the Tiaro upgrade as TMR has new information to share.”
“Anyone who doesn’t support the four-lane Tiaro bypass isn’t putting Maryborough and the region’s road users first,” Mr O’Brien said
“This has been a hard-fought campaign and I give credit to Denis Chapman for championing two petitions, to the Fraser Coast Council and Member for Gympie Tony Perrett for taking their concerns to the State Government, and to every community member who signed their name or shared their views on this important project.
“We now have Federal funding locked in from the Coalition Government for this project and I look forward to the State Government bringing forward plans for the four-lane bypass as soon as possible to make this vital project a reality.”
The pledge takes total federal commitment to $268.8 million.
The deputy prime minister said the Australian Government’s new commitment would support the increasing capacity of current and future traffic demands.
“The proposed bypass will remove a large portion of heavy vehicles from the Tiaro township, improving safety and liveability for residents while future-proofing the highway for the years ahead,” he said
“Field investigations have been underway within the bypass corridor study area since March 2020, helping identify the best alignment for this new highway.
“We are continuing to invest in critical projects such as this under our record $110 billion infrastructure investment pipeline, which is a key pillar of Australia’s world-leading economic recovery.”
The project’s Business Case is expected to be completed by late 2021 and will inform the delivery schedule.
The announcement comes a week after Mr O’Brien again called for better roads following a horror head-on car crash on the highway nearby Maryborough.
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